No One Can Guarantee America – OpEd |
Islamabad’s re-emergence as a diplomatic venue for US–Iran engagement comes at a moment of acute regional uncertainty. The convergence of American, Iranian and Israeli interests now entangled in active confrontation has once again pushed diplomacy to the forefront. Yet beyond the choreography of negotiations lies a more fundamental constraint: the absence of trust.
This deficit is not incidental. It is structural. The United States enters these talks not as a neutral arbiter, but as a principal actor in the conflict it seeks to manage. The recent strikes on Iranian-linked targets, carried out in coordination with Israel, have reinforced a long-standing perception in Tehran that Washington’s diplomacy is rarely divorced from coercive leverage. Negotiations, in this framework, are not alternatives to force; they are extensions of it.
This duality complicates the credibility of any engagement.
For Iran, the issue is not limited to present circumstances. It is informed by a broader historical pattern in which American commitments have often been contingent on shifting strategic priorities. The US military engagements over the past decades from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq illustrate a consistent willingness to recalibrate policy, even at the cost of long-term stability. The withdrawal from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of war, culminating in the Taliban’s return to power, and the enduring consequences of........